Sunday, December 11, 2011

Milwaukee Brewers' all-star, MVP, left fielder Ryan Braun has tested positive for PEDs according to ESPN's Outside the Lines. The story states that Braun tested positive for testosterone levels at least four times higher than normal and an additional test from the International Doping Agency in Montreal confirmed that the testosterone could not have been produced by Braun's body. The Brewers' star is, of course, appealing the decision and staunchly maintaining his innocence.

Braun has been considered one of baseball's post-steroid era golden boys. He is supposed to be one of the clean-era good guys that has proven big offense will still exist without chemical upgrades, all of that has come crashing down.

So now Braun is a cheater. He broke the rules, he cheated. The sad thing is even if he somehow does successfully appeal the charges many will still consider him to be a cheater. We live in such a cynical age that even a full-fledged press conference featuring the scientists, Bud Seilig, the President and assorted Gods bith full and demi will most likely not shake the accusations from Braun's record. There will always be a question.

This cynical age has also spawned a cabal of individuals that contend performance enhancing drugs do not actually significantly enhance performance in any real way, at least not in baseball. The same drugs that may give someone the ability to lift more weight do not necessarily help you get the barrell of a bat through the strike zone any faster; nor give one the hand-eye-coordination to hit that ball the necessary way. This may all well be true, but I do not subscribe to that belief. But at the end of the day it does not matter. It does not matter if the drugs did/ do nothing, maybe it is/ was all in the players' minds the bottom line is that they are banned and now serious consequences are associated with failing these tests.